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[h=4]At least 1 dead, 3 injured in massive crane collapse in NYC[/h]Construction crane tumbles into the street in TriBeCa in lower Manhattan
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One person sitting in a parked car was killed and three people injured on Friday when a huge construction crane collapsed in lower Manhattan.
A crane collapsed in New York City, along Worth Street Between Broadway and Church Street on Friday, Feb 5, 2015.(Photo: Kevin V. Smith via Twitter)
NEW YORK — One<span style="color: Red;">*</span>person sitting in a parked car was killed and three people were injured Friday when a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>huge construction<span style="color: Red;">*</span>crane collapsed in lower Manhattan<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as workers tried to lower and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>secure it against rising winds, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The victim is described as a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>38-year-old man,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>WCBS reported. The injured were hit by falling debris. Two<span style="color: Red;">*</span>are in serious condition.
The crane, with a 565-foot boom that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stretched<span style="color: Red;">*</span>roughly<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>long as a city block, tumbled down<span style="color: Red;">*</span>around 8:24 a.m. ET near<span style="color: Red;">*</span>40 Worth Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood, the New York City Fire Department said.
Jesse Natale, a 26-year-old civil engineer from Westfield, N.J.,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told the Daily News<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he was waiting at a traffic light at the site when the crane came down.
“If I caught that light, I’d be dead probably,” he said. “It looked like an avalanche — or that the roof was caving in from the snow.”
Twisted red-colored metal from the runaway crane<span style="color: Red;">*</span>smashed into<span style="color: Red;">*</span>parked cars and debris littered streets and sidewalks.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>More than 100 firefighters and emergency personnel<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>more than 30 firetrucks and other equipment responded to the scene.
Fire officials said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>utility workers were taking gas readings in the area and making plans to excavate and cap a low-pressure gas main in the wake of the collapse.
De Blasio said construction work was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>halted on the building Thursday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>after operators decided to lower and secure the crane against winds, which<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gusted past 20 mph Friday morning.
“They were in the process of securing the crane ... actually preparing to bring it down, to secure it,” he said.
De Blasio said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>there likely would have been more victims<span style="color: Red;">*</span>if<span style="color: Red;">*</span>workmen weren't<span style="color: Red;">*</span>already clearing the area<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of traffic and people to prepare for lowering the crane.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"Thank god it was not worse," he said.
Glenn Zito, who was working on the upper floors of a building across the street, captured the crane's collapse in a dramatic video.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Zito and two other workers were asked to come down from the upper floors because of the wind<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and were making their way down when they stopped to watch the crane being lowered.
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Glenn Zito was on the 30th floor of a neighboring building when a massive crane crashed in lower Manhattan. At the time of the recording, it wasn't known that one person was killed and several others were injured. USA TODAY
"At a certain point (as)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>it was coming down, it was probably at 90 degrees, the two halves, and then it just sped up," Zito said. "And at that point we watched it fall and then the body of the cab of the crane flipped over.”
Zito pans the camera from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>left to right<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and follows the metal boom as it<span style="color: Red;">*</span>plummets to the ground<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and lands in a heap in the middle of the road.
"You always think it’s going to be a possibility," said Chris Andrinopouls, another<span style="color: Red;">*</span>workman. "You really don’t want that to happen."
A few wind gusts of 20-25 mph were reported between 8 and 9 a.m. Friday in Manhattan, according to data from Weather Underground.
The equipment that collapsed is known as a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>crawler<span style="color: Red;">*</span>crane, which<span style="color: Red;">*</span>consists of an upper carriage, or boom, mounted on a crawler-type<span style="color: Red;">*</span>undercarriage that can be moved from one location to another. The boom<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is capable of hoisting 330 tons of weight, city officials said.
City Department of Buildings inspectors checked the crane Thursday morning, when workers installed an extension on the upper boom. The inspectors approved the operation, de Blasio and other city officials said.
The city issued orders for all crawler cranes across the city to be secured as investigators tried to determine the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>cause of Friday’s accident.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the city’s first major crane collapse since 2008.
Contributing: Michael Struening in New York City. Stanglin reported from McLean, Va.
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Mayor Bill de Blasio says there have been gas leaks as the result of the deadly crane collapse in Lower Manhattan. The collapse left one person dead and three injured. (Feb. 5) AP
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